Tropical storm ‘Jolina’ leaves zero casualties

Although 549 families in three regions felt its adverse effects, Tropical Storm “Jolina” left zero casualties, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Saturday.

In a press briefing, NDRRMC spokesperson Romina Marasigan said: “Many families now have been cooperative in our pre-emptive evacuation program.”

A total of 549 families, or 2,047 people, were evacuated from 30 villages in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and the Cordillera regions.

NDRRMC Executive Director Ricardo Jalad said 253 families or 928 persons were being served in 25 evacuation centers, and another 296 families or 1,119 individuals were being assisted outside evacuation centers.

At noon on Saturday, Northern Luzon, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, and the Cordillera Administrative Region were on “red alert” on account of the weather disturbance, according to Marasigan.

Kennon Road in Baguio City was reopened to public and private vehicles. However, Marasigan still advised motorists to take alternate routes going to and from Baguio.

Domestic flights resumed. Earlier, eight domestic flights of PAL Express, Cebgo, and Cebu Pacific were cancelled because of the storm.

All seaports also resumed operations. The day before in seaports, a total of 494 passengers, 50 rolling cargoes and 13 vessels were stranded.

Dam operations in Benguet and Isabela also resumed. Small-scale mining in Benguet remained suspended.
In Tabuk and Banaue Road of lower Kalinga, landslides and road collapses were reported. Clearing operations are still on-going.

Cloudy Sunday
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Metro Manila, Ilocos Region as well as Zambales and Bataan provinces would likely experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and possible occasionally heavy rains, gusty winds and lightning due to thunderstorms until Sunday afternoon.

In its 24-hour forecast released Saturday afternoon, Pagasa said partly cloudy to cloudy skies, except for isolated light to occasionally heavy rains, gusty winds and lightning, may prevail over the rest of the country.

“Jolina” packed maximum sustained winds of 80 kilometers per hour (kph) near its center and gustiness of up to 95 kph, said Pagasa.

According to Pagasa, “Jolina” may move northwest at 24 kph.

“Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest to southeast will prevail over Luzon,” Pagasa said.
Coastal waters will be moderate to rough. “Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the south with slight to moderate seas,” Pagasa said.

Storm-enhanced strong to gale-force easterly winds have weakened, the weather bureau also said in its Gale Warning 3 released Saturday.

Moderate to rough seas and waves up to 4.0 meters high due to expected 36-kph to 58-kph winds are possible in Northern Luzon’s Batanes province, Calayan and Babuyan islands as well as northern coast of Cagayan province.

“Fishing boats and other small seacraft are alerted against moderate to rough seas,” Pagasa said.